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On climate change and cultural geography: farming on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK

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An Erratum to this article was published on 13 April 2012

Abstract

Climate change as a global problem has moved relatively swiftly into high profile political debates over the last 20 years or so, with a concomitant diffusion from the natural sciences into the social sciences. The study of the human dimensions of climate change has been growing in momentum through research which attempts to describe, evaluate, quantify and model perceptions of climate change, understand more about risk and assess the construction of policy. Cultural geographers’ concerns with the construction of knowledge, the workings of social relations in space and the politics and poetics of place-based identities provide a lens through which personal, collective and institutional responses to climate change can be evaluated using critical and interpretative methodologies. Adopting a cultural geography approach, this paper examines how climate change as a particular environmental discourse is constructed through memory, observation and conversation, as well as materialised in farming practices on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK.

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Notes

  1. Entry Level and Higher Level Stewardship are categories of the Environmental Stewardship scheme that funds farmers in return for undertaking environmental management on their land.

  2. Our research is part of a larger interdisciplinary project at the University of Exeter concerned with understanding the effects of climate change in Cornwall. The project brings together researchers from across the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. We are working with colleagues from biosciences and English.

  3. We use pseudonyms to protect the anonymity of our research participants.

  4. Molinia is a moor grass that has been used across Northern Europe for thatching and straw for livestock.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Union through the European Social Fund, project number 09099NC05.

Catherine Leyshon wrote part of this paper whilst on study leave as a Visiting International Scholar at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA. She acknowledges with thanks the staff in the Department and particularly Dr Marcia England.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Hilary Geoghegan & Catherine Leyson

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  1. Hilary Geoghegan
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  2. Catherine Leyson
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Correspondence to Hilary Geoghegan.

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Geoghegan, H., Leyson, C. On climate change and cultural geography: farming on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK. Climatic Change 113, 55–66 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0417-5

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